System, Method and Architecture for Secure Sharing of Customer Intelligence

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/980,781, filed Nov. 4, 2022, which is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/291,161, filed Mar. 4, 2019, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,522,844, which is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/153,808, filed Oct. 7, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,263,970 entitled “SYSTEM, METHOD AND ARCHITECTURE FOR SECURE SHARING OF CUSTOMER INTELLIGENCE”. The contents of the above-identified applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

Many service providers use “cookies” to personalize a client's website experience. A cookie is a small file that stores client information. This information may include personal information, such as the client's address and password, and behavioral information, such as a client's browsing history.

There are two types of cookies; “session” cookies which are deleted at the end of each web browsing session and “persistent” cookies, which are saved between sessions. During a client's initial access of a service provider website, the service provider populates and downloads the cookie file to the client's browser. If the cookie is a persistent cookie, on subsequent visits by the client to the service provider website the cookie is retrieved, and data related to the client can be extracted to increase efficiencies and personalize the client's website experience.

In addition to improving processing efficiencies, cookies can further be used to tailor advertising and to analyze marketing campaigns by storing client intelligence. Client intelligence may include, for example, a client's browsing history, purchase history and other internet behavior. In some cases, service providers make the client intelligence available to authorized third parties, who may also store cookies at the client.

Although there are significant benefits from the use of cookies, the fact that cookies store personal client information makes them vulnerable to malicious interception. Clients can protect the distribution of their information by restricting a service provider's ability to use persistent cookies. Browsers generally provide the user the ability to control the creation and storage of cookies by service providers and third parties, and users may block the creation of cookies altogether. However, blocking all cookies would ultimately serve only to frustrate the client and to remove the business advantages associated with client intelligence.

It would be desirable to leverage the efficiencies gained through the use of cookies while protecting against inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of client information.

According to one aspect of the invention, a method of securing client-related data by a service provider includes the steps of receiving a request from a client for content provided by the service provider and obtaining a key for the client. The method further includes the steps of collecting client-related data and transforming a portion of the client-related data to produce obfuscated client-related data. Keyed client data comprising the key and the obfuscated client-related data is generated and stored. The keyed client data is retrieved and returned in response to third-party requests seeking access to client data. With such an arrangement, client data is protected against malicious interception because only keyed, obfuscated data is made available in communications between the server, client and third-parties.

According to another aspect of the invention, a system to secure client-related data collected by a service provider website includes a key master for transforming a client identifier into a key, a first storage unit for storing the key, a transform unit for transforming at least a portion of client-related data to produce obfuscated client-related data, and secure cookie builder for combining the key and the obfuscated client-related data into keyed client data. A second storage device stores the keyed client data and is accessed by an interface which returns keyed client data in response to third-party requests for the respective client-related data, thereby protecting the client-related data against unauthorized exposure.

According to a further aspect of the invention, a method of securing client-associated data collected by a service provider includes forwarding a request for content to a service provider's website, the request for content including an identifier of a client issuing the request. Responsive to the request keyed client data is received from the service provider where the keyed client data includes a key associated with the identifier and obfuscated data of the client. The keyed client data is stored and forwarded to a third-party in response to a third-party request for client-associated data, where the third-party request comprises the key. With such an arrangement authorized third parties can directly access client cookie information using the key rather than information directly identifying the client. Returned data is unintelligible to unauthorized parties, and the communication of client intelligence is thereby secured.

According to one aspect of the invention, a key master service operating on a service provider in a network enables authorized parties to securely exchange client information without compromising client security. One feature of the key master service is the generation of a unique key for each client. All parties in an authorized universe access, exchange and modify client information by referencing the universal key, rather than using known client identifiers. Client information is further secured by advantageously applying an obfuscation function to the data. Obfuscated client information is stored together with the universal key as keyed client data at the client and/or server, where it may be directly accessed by the service provider or third parties. Because client information is stored and exchanged without the ability to discern either the client identity or the nature of the information, such information is secured against malicious third-party interception.

1 FIG. 100 150 101 110 130 110 illustrates an exemplary networked systemin which the present invention may be practiced to secure client information. A networkcouples one or more end points, such as client, service providerand third-party. In one embodiment, the service providermay provide both account content (i.e., content that is personal to the client accounts maintained at the service provider) and service content (i.e., consumer-oriented services that are made accessible to the client via a service provider website). The list of consumer-oriented services that are available via the network is exhaustive, but by way of example includes account management services, commercial sales services, advertising services, news services, financial services, communication services, travel services and the like. Service providers make their services available to clients over their network via website interfaces constructed of linked HTML (or other formats) webpages.

101 105 105 105 103 110 105 105 102 Clientaccesses the website of the service provider by running an internet browser application. The browseris a software application such as Google® Chrome®, Internet Explorer®, Safari®, etc. The internet browserincludes programming codefor translating HTML web pages of the service provider websitefor display on a graphic user interface (GUI) of the browser. Browseris shown to include a local data storagewhich stores information for use by the browser, including client information usable to improve the efficiency of client/service provider communications. This information could include information that has previously been directly input by the client such as a password or an address. This information could also include information that was indirectly captured for the client such as information regarding website browsing history and purchase history.

102 106 108 101 110 108 108 108 According to one aspect of the invention, the local storage deviceadvantageously stores a keyand keyed client data. As will be described in more detail below, the key uniquely identifies the clientto the service providerand is made available to a universe of authorized third parties as a universal key to be used when collect and modifying client-related information. The keyed client datacomprises the key and data that is related to the client but is uninterpretable if obtained through unauthorized means. The stored keyed client datamay be retrieved and updated by the service provider during each client session. The keyed client datamay also be advantageously pushed to authorized third party services that can benefit from access to such client information.

110 112 150 112 111 111 115 113 113 1 FIG. Service providerofcomprises an interfacefor communicating over the networkto various clients, third-parties and data storage repositories using known network protocols. Interfaceis coupled to the key master service. Key master serviceis shown to include a key generatorand an aggregation unit. As will be described later herein, the aggregation unitcombines data relating to the client and collected from various sources into a client-related data structure. In one embodiment, the client-related data structure comprises a string of client attributes, which together encompass client intelligence. It is appreciated that data may be represented and stored in many forms and the present invention is not limited to any particular data structure for storage of client intelligence.

115 Key generatorselectively generates keys, such as key 116, for each registered client that accesses the service provider website. The key uniquely identifies the client to the service provider and is used as a universal key in place of a client identifier when broadcasting client intelligence among members of an authorized universe. With such an arrangement, the identity of a client associated with particular client intelligence is masked from unauthorized disclosure.

116 123 101 116 117 113 114 124 Following generation, the keyis forwarded to key tablefor storage and to client. Keyis also forwarded to cookie builder, where it is combined with transformed client-related data, received from the aggregation unitvia the transform unit. Keyed client data is advantageously stored in keyed client data table, where they may be retrieved and broadcast over the network without compromising client's identity or other personal, sensitive information.

150 130 110 123 1 FIG. Also shown coupled to networkinis third party. According to one aspect of the invention, certain third parties that may benefit from access to client intelligence may be authorized by the service providerfor such access. When authorized, the third party may receive keys and data associated with clients. In some embodiments, an authorized third party may receive key mapping information such as that stored in key tableof the service provider, and or translation information (for decoding the client intelligence) to enable the third party to manage its use of client intelligence. In other embodiments, authorized third parties are merely provided translation information for the client intelligence, and the client identifier mapping is not exposed to any party other than the service provider.

2 FIG. 201 101 110 202 205 202 210 106 101 is a data flow diagram provided to illustrate exemplary steps that may be performed in a communication between a client and service provider operating according the present invention. At stepwhen clientaccesses a website of service providerthe browser initiates a session with the server hosting the service provider website, forwarding a client identifier, such as profile reference identifierto the service provider. For example, the profile reference identifier may be a client identifier that was obtained by the client as part of a preregistration process at the service provider website. At stepthe service provider receives the profile reference identifier, and at stepthe service provider produces a keyfor the client.

3 FIG. 210 311 312 313 123 315 312 101 315 illustrates exemplary steps that may be performed as part of processfor producing the key. At stepa client reference ID is received as part of a client request, and at stepit is compared it to a key table of client reference ID/key mappings to determine if a key exists for the client. If a key exists, at stepthe client key is retrieved from the key tableand returned at stepfor use by the service provider. If it is determined at stepthat no key has previously been generated for the client, then the service provider generates a key, and at stepit is returned for use by the service provider.

As discussed above, the key is a unique value that maps to a client and is shared with third parties only following authentication. The key may be generated using a random number generator, a hash function or other known technique to provide a unique, deidentified key to be used for communication client intelligence between endpoints in a network.

2 FIG. 4 FIG. 220 220 210 416 Referring back to, at stepthe service provider begins the processof retrieving data associated with the client. Although this step is shown to occur sequentially with step, it is appreciated that data collection can be initiated upon receipt of the profile reference ID.illustrates steps that may be performed in a client information collection process. At step, if no data has previously been collected for the client, the service provider collects information about the client from one or more existing databases throughout the service providers enterprise using the personal reference ID of the client access.

412 108 132 415 418 If it is determined that the client has previously visited the website, according to one aspect of the invention keyed client data has previously been stored for the client. The keyed client data includes client information which has been transformed in such a manner to make it uninterpretable by unauthorized users. At step, if it is determined that data has previously been stored, the service provider retrieves the keyed client datafrom browser local storageand at stepadvantageously aggregates the keyed client data with other client information collected by the service provider. This ‘other client data’ may be client data that was retrieved from the service provider through interrogation of other services which the service provider has access to, or from third party services. At step, the aggregated client data is returned to the service provider.

2 FIG. 230 107 106 108 204 Returning to, at stepthe retrieved client data is transformed to obfuscate the data and protect against unwarranted disclosure. Data may be transformed using any variety of known obfuscation techniques, including but not limited to applying a hash function or other manipulation to the data. Transforming client data in this manner protects the data against inadvertent or malicious disclosure, as transformed client data is uninterpretable by any party not having access or knowledge of the method used to manipulate the client information. The transformed datais returned to the user's browser, where it is merged with Keyand stored as the Keyed client datain local browser storage at step.

5 FIG. 502 505 505 510 is a high-level block diagram of such transformation process. Collected client attribute datais forwarded to a transform engine. The transform engineadvantageously applies a transform function to the client attribute data and stores the results as transformed client attribute data.

2 FIG. 240 230 210 Returning to, at step, the transformed client data retrieved from stepis combined with the key of stepto generate the keyed client data for the client. As discussed above, this keyed client data advantageously stored both by the client browser and at the service provider data store.

6 FIG. 600 602 604 604 604 a d is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of keyed client dataof the present invention. The keyed client data includes a key, and one or more client attributes(listed as-), wherein the client attributes have been transformed to be uninterpretable to unauthorized recipients of the keyed client data. The use of the keyed client data enables communication of client intelligence between trusted parties using a universal key, rather than personal client identifiers, to track the data. As a result, client intelligence may be used to improve service efficiencies and increase marketing effectiveness and without sacrificing client security.

7 FIG. 7 FIG. 700 702 706 is a diagram of a web browser Graphical User Interface (GUI) illustrating the storage of a key of the present invention by a client's browser. Windowillustrates a browser window wherein elementis shown highlighted to represent that a user has selected a field in the GUI which results in the display of all cookies in the service provider (SP) domain. In, cookieidentifies the key that is to be used universally by authorized third parties for secure exchange of client intelligence according to the present invention.

8 FIG. 800 807 is a diagram of the web browser GUIwith an item in the “local storage” section shown selected to display a list of data stored by the browser for use by the service provider. In this example, the local storage is shown to store the keyed client data, including the key and a number of data fields which include information that is related to the user, but uninterpretable by unauthorized users. In one embodiment the transformed data is further uninterpretable by the client browser software.

9 FIG. 901 906 is a flow diagram illustrating the use of the universal key for secure client intelligence gathering by third parties. At stepan authorized third party forwards an information request to the service provider, the information request including a keyassociated with a client whose information is sought by the third party, the key having been provided to the third party as part of a secure exchange authorizing the third party to access information of the respective client.

912 930 9 FIG. At step, the service provider accesses the keyed client data table, and at stepthe keyed client data associated with the received key is returned to the third party. In one embodiment, the authorized third party has previously been provided decoding mechanisms to allow decoding and use of the client information. In examining the exchange of communicationsit is evident that, even though sensitive customer information is being exchanged between authorized parties, any inadvertent or malicious capture of the information would not compromise sensitive client information.

Accordingly, a system and method have been shown and described which use keyed client data including only obfuscated data to communicate client intelligence between a service provider, client and authorized third parties. With such an arrangement, the benefits of cookies can be leveraged by service providers without compromise to client security.

Some embodiments may be described using the expression “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” along with their derivatives. These terms mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Moreover, unless otherwise noted the features described above are recognized to be usable together in any combination. Thus, any features discussed separately may be employed in combination with each other unless it is noted that the features are incompatible with each other.

With general reference to notations and nomenclature used herein, the detailed descriptions herein which refer to ‘functions’, ‘engines’, ‘units’, ‘blocks’ or similar terms may be presented in terms of program procedures executed on a computer or network of computers. These procedural descriptions and representations are used by those skilled in the art to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art.

A procedure is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of operations leading to a desired result. These operations are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical, magnetic or optical signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It proves convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. It should be noted, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to those quantities.

Further, the manipulations performed are often referred to in terms, such as adding or comparing, which are commonly associated with mental operations performed by a human operator. No such capability of a human operator is necessary, or desirable in most cases, in any of the operations described herein, which form part of one or more embodiments. Rather, the operations are machine operations. Useful machines for performing operations of various embodiments include general purpose digital computers or similar devices.

Some embodiments may be described using the expression “coupled” and “connected” along with their derivatives. These terms are not necessarily intended as synonyms for each other. For example, some embodiments may be described using the terms “connected” and/or “coupled” to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. The term “coupled,” however, may also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but still co-operate or interact with each other.

Various embodiments also relate to apparatus or systems for performing these operations. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purpose or it may comprise a general-purpose computer as selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. The procedures presented herein are not inherently related to a particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purpose machines may be used with programs written in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. The required structure for a variety of these machines will appear from the description given.

It is emphasized that the Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow a reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, various features are grouped together in a single embodiment to streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and “wherein,” respectively. Moreover, the terms “first,” “second,” “third,” and so forth, are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.

What has been described above includes examples of the disclosed architecture. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components and/or methodologies, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations are possible. Accordingly, the novel architecture is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.